6.  The applicants are:
1) Ms Zaynap Zhazhayevna Tagirova, born in 1950;
2) Mr Taus Daudovich Tagirov, born in 1950;
3) Mr Musa Tausovich Tagirov, born in 1982;
4) Ms Zarema Abdullayevna Bazayeva[1], born in 1983;
5) Ms Madina Tausovna Tagirova, born in 1983;
6) Ms Milana Tausovna Tagirova, born in 1981; and
7) Ms Ratkha Tausovna Tagirova, born in 1972.
They live in Urus-Martan in the Chechen Republic.
7.  The first and second applicants are married to each other. They are the parents of the third, fifth, sixth and seventh applicants and Mr Movsar Tausovich Tagirov, born in 1978. Movsar Tagirov was married to the fourth applicant. At the material time the second applicant was an officer of the special task force of the Chechen Republic. Movsar Tagirov was a trainee of the special task force of the Chechen Republic.
8.  On the night of 6 to 7 February 2003 the Tagirovs were sleeping in their family house at 86 Sovetskaya Street, Urus-Martan, in the Chechen Republic.
9.  At about 3 a.m. on 7 February 2003 around twenty men wearing camouflage uniforms burst into the applicants' courtyard. They broke down the entrance door of the house; nine or ten of them entered. The men wore masks and were armed with sniper rifles («винторезы») equipped with silencers; they did not identify themselves but the applicants believed that they were Russian servicemen.
10.  Having broken into the house, the armed men found in the living room the second applicant's duty machine gun and portable radio transmitter; one of them unloaded the machine gun and pulled a battery out of the radio transmitter.
11.  An armed man examined the second applicant's officer's badge and asked him whether there were other men in the house. The second applicant replied that there was his son, a task force trainee.
12.  Then the armed men compelled the Tagirovs to proceed to the courtyard. They did not allow Movsar Tagirov to dress himself properly with the result that he left the house without jacket or shoes. The armed men forced him to stand face to the wall and ordered that someone bring his identity papers. The fourth applicant produced a task force trainee's badge; the armed men examined it and then took Movsar Tagirov from the courtyard to the street.
13.  Meanwhile three armed men forced the applicants back inside the house and threatened to open fire should they attempt to leave it. The applicants obeyed. Having entered the house, the first applicant looked out of the window and observed the armed men leading Movsar Tagirov down Sovetskaya Street.
14.  Some fifteen minutes later the remaining three armed men unblocked the entrance door, proceeded to the courtyard and disconnected a portable radio transmitter installed in the second applicant's car. Then they left.
15.  The second applicant ran to his car, turned on the radio transmitter and sent a message about his son's abduction to special task force units, but was unable to discover where he had been taken.
16.  According to written statements made by the applicants' neighbours, on the night of 6 to 7 February 2003 the armed men allegedly belonging to the Russian military visited and searched other houses in Sovetskaya Street, Urus-Martan. The neighbours refused to disclose their identities, implying that they feared for their safety.
17.  On 31 March 2004 Ms R.T., the applicant's neighbour in Sovetskaya Street, provided the SRJI with her written statement. She submitted that at 3 a.m. on 7 February 2003 armed men in masks and camouflage uniforms had entered her house and searched it. They had also demanded the identity papers of her fifteen-year-old son, who happened to be a namesake of Movsar Tagirov, checked them and left. Later Ms R.T. had been questioned by the district prosecutor's office.
18.  On 16 May 2005 the first applicant provided the SRJI with her additional submissions. She reported that on the night of 7 February 2003 the armed men had arrived at her house on foot after travelling in an Ural vehicle and an armoured personnel carrier (“APC”). The military vehicles had been parked some 100 metres away from her house at Andreyev Street near the crossroads with Sovetskaya Street. The armed men had taken her son to the crossroads and then driven east down Andreyev Street where a military unit had been located. The first applicant had not seen any military vehicles herself and had obtained the information on them from residents of Andreyev Street who preferred to remain anonymous as they feared for their safety.
19.  At about 3 a.m. on 7 February 2003 unidentified persons armed with machine guns and wearing camouflage uniforms entered the house at 86 Sovetskaya Street and kidnapped Movsar Tagirov.
20.  From 7 February 2003 onwards the applicants repeatedly complained about Movsar Tagirov's abduction to various official bodies, such as the prosecutors' offices at different levels, the military commander's office of the Urus-Martan District, the Department of the Federal Security Service of the Chechen Republic (“the FSB Department”) and the local administration of the Urus-Martan District. In their efforts the applicants were assisted by the SRJI.
21.  On 15 February 2003 the prosecutor's office of the Urus-Martan District (“the district prosecutor's office”) instituted an investigation into Movsar Tagirov's disappearance under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping) and notified the first applicant accordingly. The number assigned to the case file was not mentioned.
22.  On 22 February 2003 the district prosecutor's office granted the first applicant victim status in case no. 34020 concerning Movsar Tagirov's kidnapping by “unidentified men in masks and camouflage uniforms”.
23.  On 4 April 2003 the first applicant wrote to the district prosecutor's office enquiring about progress in the investigation in case no. 34020. On 10 April 2003 the district prosecutor's office replied that the investigation had been instituted on 15 February 2003 and was under way. They noted that the first applicant would be informed of its outcome.
24.  On 11 April 2003 the first applicant wrote to the military commander of the Urus-Martan District, the FSB Department and the local administration describing in detail the circumstances of her son's abduction and asking for assistance in establishing his whereabouts. She mentioned that her son had been abducted by military servicemen driving a grey “UAZ” all-terrain vehicle.
25.  On 15 April 2003 the district prosecutor's office suspended the investigation in case no. 34020 for failure to identify those responsible and ordered that the department of the interior of the Urus-Martan District organise the search for Movsar Tagirov and his kidnappers. On 16 April 2003 they informed the first applicant accordingly.
26.  On 22 April 2003 the FSB Department informed the first applicant that they had not instituted any criminal proceedings against Movsar Tagirov. They further noted that they had carried out a fruitless inquiry into Movsar Tagirov's disappearance and suggested that he might have been kidnapped by members of illegal armed groups disguised in military uniforms.
27.  On 30 May 2003 the Southern Federal Circuit Department of the Prosecutor General's Office informed the first applicant that they had forwarded her complaint to the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic.
28.  On 5 and 18 June 2003 the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic forwarded the first applicant's complaints to the district prosecutor's office.
29.  On 3 July 2003 the military commander's office of the Urus-Martan District informed the first applicant that they had carried out an inquiry into her son's kidnapping and that they had no information on his whereabouts or reasons for his abduction.
30.  On 16 July 2003 the first applicant wrote to the military prosecutor's office of the United Group Alignment (“the UGA prosecutor's office”) asking them to help her find her son. She mentioned that her son had been abducted by military servicemen driving a grey “UAZ” all-terrain vehicle.
31.  On 22 July 2003 the UGA prosecutor's office forwarded the first applicant's letter to the military prosecutor's office of military unit no. 20102 (“the unit prosecutor's office”) and ordered that it be verified whether Russian federal servicemen had been involved in Movsad Tagirov's kidnapping.
32.  On 5 September 2003 the unit prosecutor's office informed the first applicant that they had carried out an inquiry, which had not established any implication of military personnel in her son's kidnapping.
33.  On 25 October 2003 the SRJI requested the district prosecutor's office to inform them of progress in the investigation in case no. 34020, to allow the first applicant access to the investigation file and to resume the investigation if it had been suspended. They received no reply and repeated the request on 20 December 2003 with a copy sent to the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic.
34.  On 2 February 2004 the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic informed the SRJI that the investigation into Movsar Tagirov's kidnapping was under way and that investigative measures were being taken to solve the crime.
35.  On 20 September 2004 the SRJI requested the district prosecutor's office to inform them of progress in the investigation in case no. 34020 and of investigative measures taken.
36.  On 27 October 2004 the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic informed the SRJI that the investigation into Movsar Tagirov's kidnapping had been opened and suggested that the first applicant send her further queries to the district prosecutor's office.
37.  In her additional submissions to the SRJI of 16 May 2005 the first applicant noted that following her son's abduction she had contacted numerous “intermediaries” who had connections with the Russian military. According to one of them named “Baysi”, a Russian serviceman named “Pet'ka” had told “Baysi” that Movsar Tagirov upon his abduction had been brought to the military commander's office of Urus-Martan and spent two or three days there. Then he had been transferred to the temporary department of the interior and then to “Pet'ka's” military unit. “Pet'ka” had mentioned that the detainee in question had an aquiline nose and a damaged left ear, which corresponded to Movsar Tagirov's description. After a week spent in the military unit the detainee had been transferred to Khankala military base by a serviceman named “Alferov”. This information was not communicated to the investigating authorities.
38.  On 18 March 2005 the SRJI requested that the district prosecutor's office reply to their letter of 20 September 2004.
39.  On 4 and 7 October 2005 the SRJI requested information on case no. 34020 from the district prosecutor's office, but received no reply.
40.  On 20 October 2005 the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic informed the SRJI that the first applicant had been receiving updates on the course of the investigation. The applicants did not receive any such information.
41.  On 13 December 2007 the first applicant requested the Achkhoy-Martan Inter-District Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office to allow her access to interview records included in the case file and permission to copy them.
42.  On 15 February 2003 the district prosecutor's office instituted an investigation of Movsar Tagirov's abduction under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was assigned number 34020.
43.  On 22 February 2003 the first applicant was granted victim status and questioned. She submitted that on 7 February 2003 unknown armed men had entered her house, unloaded her husband's duty machine gun and taken away her son. She did not know the perpetrators and had not heard any noise of vehicles. Other relatives of Movsar Tagirov were questioned in the course of the investigation and made statements identical to that by the first applicant.
44.  Law enforcement agencies of the Chechen Republic and the North Caucasus Area replied to the district prosecutor's office's queries that Movsar Tagirov had not been arrested, that no criminal proceeding had been instituted against him and that he had not been suspected of participation in illegal armed groups. Movsar Tagirov had not applied for medical assistance to hospitals in the Chechen Republic and had not been detained in remand prisons in the North Caucasus Area. His dead body had not been found among unidentified corpses. Investigative measures taken had not led to establishing his whereabouts.
45.  The investigation was on several occasions suspended for failure to identify the perpetrators. Higher prosecutors ordered the resumption of the proceedings to verify information obtained from the police.
46.  The investigation failed to establish the whereabouts of Movsar Tagirov and found no evidence of the involvement of federal troops in the crime. It has not been completed and is pending before the Achkhoy-Martan Inter-District Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.
47.  Despite specific requests by the Court, the Government did not disclose any documents of the investigation file in case no. 34020. Relying on the information obtained from the Prosecutor General's Office, the Government stated that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since the file contained information of a military nature and personal data concerning the witnesses or other participants in the criminal proceedings.